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Monday, November 7, 2011

Guess the Genotype #31

Can you guess the genotype of this dog? What about her breed?

Image is by Suzanne Phillips on Flickr.com and is used with permission. Suzy is also the author of the blog Hoof & Paw.

This is Zelda, who is a border collie. Though she looks somewhat unusual for what many people would call a "border collie," the breed actually has a great amount of variation. The come in virtually ever color of the canine rainbow, and also have a number of ear types and coat types. This is especially true of working-bred borders. You can find many more images of Zelda here.

First of all, Zelda is expressing one of the Agouti alleles. Specifically, she is tan point. Though it may be difficult to see at first glance, she dose have tan in the usual places, but it is obscured by stripes, which I will discuss later. Recessive black does not appear to be present in the border collie population, and as such Zelda must be atat tan pointed. I will note, however, that there is some suggestion that she may instead be saddled tan or capped tricolor. The hints of tan are high on her legs and also appear to possibly be partially on her sides. Genetically, they are all caused by the same tan point gene and some other variation is what causes the differences in the amount of tan.

Though it is possible that Zelda carries one of the two dilution genes, they are fairly unusual in border collies, and as such I don't believe this is true. So, this would make her BB non-liver and DD non-blue.

When it comes to the intensity of red in her coat, it is in the moderate range. This would mean she is likely Ccch moderate red or some similar genotype.

Since the white on her face obscures the area where a mask could possibly be, there is no way of telling whether she has a mask or not. However, I don't believe she has one, as it is again fairly unusual. I also don't think she carries recessive red for the same reason. This would make her EE normally colored.

Zelda is also brindle, which is why her tan points are relatively difficult to discern. Since it is again a fairly unusual pattern in the breed, I believe that she is kbrk brindle carrying non-brindle.

She also has Irish white, which is the most commonly seen pattern of white in the breed. The great amount of white on her head is rather unusual, but is far from unheard of in Irish marked dogs. This would make her sisi Irish white.

Last, but not least, Zelda appears to have ticking. There aren't very many spots, and it is another pattern that is not often seen in the breed. as such, I suspect that she is Tt ticked carrying non-ticked.